Mice Can Predict Earthquakes

Japanese scientists say that animals can sense signs of big earthquakes
Japanese scientists proved that mice can predict earthquakes. In the framework of special experiments, scientists irradiated mice with ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves that were imperceptible for humans.

The guide of the research, Professor Takeshi Yagi from the Osaka University says: "Mice became nervous, started running about the cage and covered their faces with their paws. Some of them even stuck their faces into sawdust in the cage."

Professor Yagi says the idea to hold an experiment of this kind struck him in 1995. "We first observed unusual movement by mice kept in our laboratory on January 16 eight years ago, the day before the Kobe earthquake."

The earthquake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck the Japanese city of Kobe on January 17 and killed 6,433 people. 

"We proposed a hypothesis that electromagnetic impulses generated before an earthquake would disrupt a mouse's biological clock. Certainly, more experiments are needed to make up a final conclusion about the phenomenon. But it is for sure that we are the first scientists in the world who have shown scientific data proving animals' ability to sense signs of big earthquakes," Takeshi Yagi says.

NEWSRu.com